Moving Online: A Best Practice Approach to Achieving a Quality Learning Experience for Online Education

Abstract

This paper describes a holistic approach to managing the development, presentation and delivery of online learning materials. This process combines learning design, content preparation and delivery, and technical support in a partnership between educational development and academic staff to ensure quality outcomes for students in distance education studies. A learner analysis informed development of this approach and a templated guide was created to provide a model for courseware development. This ensures that students are provided with the information and resources required to successfully complete their studies, and that their experience is enhanced by reducing the need to search for key information each time they commence a new course. The consistency in learning resources means that key information, assessment and learning outcomes are always present in the same location across all courseware, thus reducing the cognitive stress students report in navigating educational materials.